Yamashita Keigo vs Iyama Yuta – Game 1

Game 2

Game 2 was full of massive fighting and battles from the very beginning.

Iyama was ahead in terms of territory, and Yamashita attacked Iyama’s weak group in the center severely. However, Iyama’s defense was solid and accurate, and Yamashita couldn’t find any weaknesses during the game.

Game 4 – Kadoban

He showed his power and strength in the early combat on the right side. After playing a very well timed probe and showing us some nice tesuji in the bottom right corner, Yamashita achieved a good result.

Iyama began to play aggressively after that, but Yamashita’s responses were solid and accurate, and Iyama soon resigned.

Iyama Yuta vs Yamashita Keigo – Game 4

Game 5 – Kadoban

With the score at 3-1 after four games, game 5 saw Yamashita face another kadoban in the best of seven match.

Iyama demonstrated his fighting spirit in closing out a resurgent Yamashita to finish the match.

The opening was well balanced between Black’s influence and White’s territory. Yamashita (Black) developed the right side through to the bottom right and White invaded.

Iyama’s sabaki was brilliant, and he even managed to take sente to develop the upper side. In doing so, White took the lead.

Black invaded White’s area at the top immediately and Iyama attacked furiously, even though the game was already favorable for him. Eventually, White captured the whole group at the top with a ko, and Black tried to kill White’s dragon on the right side.

However, Iyama managed both the weak group and the ko very well and another life and death ko arose at the bottom. Even though Black tried very hard to fight the ko, White had more ko threats and Yamashita had no choice but to resign.

Iyama Yuta won the 70th Honinbo after five games and holds the title for another year.

Younggil is an 8 dan professional Go player with the Korean Baduk Association. He qualified as a professional in 1997 and won an award for winning 18 consecutive professional matches the following year. After completing compulsory military service, Younggil left Korea in 2008, to teach and promote the game Go overseas. Younggil now lives in Sydney, Australia, and is one of the founders of Go Game Guru. On Friday evenings, Younggil is usually at the Sydney Go Club, where he gives weekly lessons and plays simultaneous games.